


The Toes.

by hennethgalad



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Quendi, Valinor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:34:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25903663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hennethgalad/pseuds/hennethgalad
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	The Toes.

Hlóna struggled to awaken, it was no time for dreaming, the wolf had crushed his arm, and was lunging for his throat; yet it was no beast for it spoke as a Quendi, saying "You cannot imagine how long I have awaited this."  
But no, the wolf was gone, there was a hooded figure, solemn and strange, and his eyes!  
Someone was speaking to him, he heard his name called, he could not hear what they were saying, just mumbled words until the voice spoke loudly and clearly  
"Envinyatar!"

The stars shone through the branches, all was well. Nearby he could see some of the others, all asleep, but no sign of any on watch. He smiled, they were getting much better at remaining hidden. He looked down, he did not know the place; how had he come here? He jolted to full alertness, the wolf! But his arm was whole, unmarred, what had happened? The wolf had been no dream, he could remember clearly the stink of it, the rough hair, the unbelievable strength of it, a twisting snarling onslaught of fang and sinew and scraping claws...  
But the wind sighed through the branches, soft and cool, his limbs were unhurt, his throat... he put up a hand, his throat was whole and smooth, no slavering jaws had ripped him open... 

"Well met, friend!" came a warm, rich voice from below. Hlóna looked down, there was an unfamiliar Quendi smiling up at him, strangely garbed in long smooth robes which hung almost to the ground. Hlóna leaped down and smiled at the stranger.  
"Stars shine upon this, our first meeting. But where is this place, and what became of the wolf? I had thought myself... destroyed."  
But the stranger pointed to the stream "Will you walk a little with me, oh, not out of sight of your people! Just up the stream a little."  
Hlóna pressed his lips together, then smiled; if the stranger knew the answers to his questions...

A little way up the hill, overlooking the trees where his people slept, the stream widened into a still pool, fed by a divided waterfall, split by a sharp beak of rock into two smooth sheets of glittering water that fell with a soft rush. The stranger lifted his robe to his knees, stepped into the shallow water then sat down on a rock on the edge of the pool, bathing his feet. Hlóna smiled, and put his own feet in the water, which was cool and soothing, and sat nearby.  
"I am called Olórin, and you are called Hlóna."  
"I have not... Who are you?"  
The stranger smiled "That is a long tale! One day we shall sit here again, laughing, and I shall tell it to you. Here, or elsewhere."  
Hlóna looked around "But where is here? How did I come here? What of the wolf?"  
Olórin sighed "Long tales... Look now to the north." he pointed with one arm "Do you see there, low in the sky, a brightness?"  
Hlóna looked and the breath hissed inward through his teeth "Fire!"  
"Softly, my friend, no, that is not fire, that is Light. There stand two great Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, the first of gold, the other of silver, and they fill the forest with Light, greater than the light of all the stars."  
"Those must be mighty trees!"  
"Yes, mightier even than the 'wolf' which attacked you."  
"It spoke to me!"  
"Did it indeed? Do you recall what it said?"  
Hlóna told him the words of the beast and Olórin nodded "Yes, you are the first."  
"The first?"  
"The first to awaken here. The first to be remade."  
"Then... the wolf... It was real, the bites..." he looked down at his arm, and put a hand to his throat, choking for air.  
"Softly, my friend, all is well. Soon others will awaken, and you will be together with those you know and love."  
"Wait, if I... if I am... am slain, does that mean that these others, my sister there, and my dear mother, and my kin, and... are they too... were they all slain when the wolves came? There were so many! They came out of a cave we had not seen, pouring out howling, and one spoke..."  
"It was no wolf that slew you, it was a creature like me, but in the form of a wolf."  
"Then you are not... not as we are?"  
Olórin shook his head "You, Hlóna, are the first of the Quendi to awaken here. You are the first that I have met, or seen."  
"But where are we?"  
Olórin nodded "Suppose that your body represented the world. Then the Lake would be here" he pointed to his own heart, or where his heart would be if he were one of the Quendi. Hlóna found that his own hand had moved to his chest. "So. But where we are here, now" he lifted one arm and pointed to the middle of the upper part "Here, another land, separated by darkness and grinding ice, this is where we are. And here" he pointed to the inner part of his elbow "This is the place of The Trees, the place where my people, and others like us but greater, far greater, dwell in the Light."

Hlóna looked anxiously at the light in the sky, and back to Olórin. But Olórin smiled and looked down at his feet, lifting one foot near the surface and wriggling his toes. There was something strangely reassuring about the toes, Hlóna could not imagine Olórin doing any harm. The quiet pool, the softly falling water, the gentle air; it was as peaceful as home had ever been, and the breath went out of him in a long sigh.  
"Do you ask that we come with you, to your land?"  
Olórin smiled "I ask nothing, my friend, I am here to set you at ease, to answer what questions I may, and to invite you, if it please you and your people, to wander north, where my people dwell, that you may join us in the Light.   
But the way is long, and there are many places as fair as this, and some fairer, indeed! You may wander as you please, you may stay here, you may do as you please. But if ever..." he looked kindly at Hlóna "If ever the memory troubles you, there is healing to be found there, in the Gardens of Lórien, where Estë sleeps and Irmo sings.   
And if ever you grieve for those you left behind" he pointed to the sharp bone of his elbow "Then here dwells my lady Nienna, whose songs bring wisdom and understanding."  



End file.
